Cammie Jackson's first year at Gallagher
by djrocks
Summary: Cammie Jackson: delinquent, demigod, and now spy. Watch her as she goes through her first year at Gallagher Girls academy, learning how to be a class A spy, how to make new friends all on her own, and how to survive without her brother Percy. This is a collection of One-shots following the Lightning Thief Rewrite. Enjoy
1. Chapter 1

**Cameron Jackson's first year of Gallagher**

**Cammie Jackson: delinquent, demigod, and now spy. Watch her as she goes through her first year at Gallagher Girls academy, learning how to be a class A spy, how to make new friends all on her own, and how to survive without her brother Percy. This is a collection of One-shots following the Lightning Thief Rewrite. Enjoy**

_Uncovering the Mystery of Cameron Morgan—Part One_

It had been two weeks since I had begun my term at Gallagher, and so far, no one had gotten a broken nose. Well, that's actually untrue. A sophomore did get one in P&E (Protection and Enforcement), but it was on accident, and was not delivered by me. So yes, my first two weeks at Gallagher were going swell.

My roommates, Elizabeth (Liz) Sutton and Rebecca (Bex) Baxter, and I got along so well, it was unreal. Liz was the brains, Bex was the muscle, and I the hidden soul. Together we made one fine human being. An intellectual, tough, mysterious and slightly sociopathic, human. I know this for a fact, seeing how we studied sociopaths just that Thursday.

**Characteristics of a sociopath are as followed:**

1. Sociopaths are very charming (Bex)

2. Sociopaths can be extremely manipulative and will try to con you whenever possible (me)

3. Sociopaths will lie continuously to get what they want. They can even sometimes manipulate a lie detector (Though we will have to work on the manipulating a lie detector part, Liz has already started building one for practice. I believe the lesson on lying is taught sometime during Sophomore year in Covert Operations)

4. Sociopaths have no room for love in their life (Well, we're only eight graders, what do you expect)

5. Sociopaths need to have excitement in their lives or live on the edge (I believe this summer and my choice in schooling has proven that)

6. Sociopaths have lack of empathy hen their victims suffer pain that they have caused (I have no empathy for the monsters I've taken out, and I'm sure none of will care about those we'll be taking out in the future if it come to that.)

7. Sociopaths usually have a long history of juvenile delinquency as well as behavior problems (…Lone doesn't cover it for me…)

8. Sociopaths rarely stay in one place for a long time (Bex has told me all about the places she's lived.)

9. Sociopaths will change themselves if they know it will keep them from being found out (Isn't that what being a spy is all about?)

Yes, slightly sociopathic.

I was sitting in our shared dorm room, writing a letter to Percy and mom. Though I was known as an orphan at this school, Vanessa (the demigod that had gotten me a place at this school) has assured me that she would deliver all my letters to the family I'd left behind for the time being. I could talk to Percy in my head and in my dreams, so the letters were more for my mother's benefit then Percy's. They were written in Greek, seeing how it was the only language that didn't apply to my Dyslexia.

Just that moment, Bex came bursting through the room, a troublesome grin sketched on her face. I quickly pushed the unfinished letter under my Culture and Assimilation text books. I grinned back up at her. "And what may I do for you on this fine evening, Baxter?"

Her grin shifted more into a smile as she sat on her bed beside mine. "Oh, the usual, boring stuff. Listen to me babble on and on."

Slamming my text book closed, I leaned forward in interest. "Well you know how much I enjoy your babbling."

"Who wouldn't?"

"Definitely not me."

"Of course not."

We laughed.

"So," I drawled, leaning back. "What's on the board of discussion today?"

"Well, I was just talking to the Head Mistress not even five minutes ago, and she informed me that I am the first non-American to attend this school. Kind of cool."

"Yeah, that is pretty cool," I said. "You might even be written into Gallagher History."

She laughed. "Well we all will be. We'll all do something great one day. We'll all be famous in this secret little community of ours."

Little did she know, I already was famous in my own little secret community.

"Hey, can you hand me that Countries of the World text book," Bex asked.

I nodded, picking it up.

Bex took it, and looked at the cover of the text book. "Uh, Cammie, this is the Computing text book. This is Liz's."

"Oh…" _darn dyslexia. _"Sorry about that, here you go." And hand her another one.

"Cammie this is Korean Language text book, that's not even close."

"Uh…" I started sweating, trying to find the right text book based on the cover.

Liz walked in then, looking us over. "Hey guys…what's going on?"

"Cammie's just trying to find the Countries of the World text book," Bex said, still looking at me weirdly. I chuckled awkwardly.

Liz walked over, grabbing the textbook, and handing it to Bex. "It was right in front of you, Cammie," she said, worried.

I gave a sharp laugh. "Darn contacts. I must be due for a new pair."

They stared at me. "Cammie," Liz said. "You don't wear contacts."

"Don't I? I never noticed."

Bex scooted closer. "Cammie, what's going on?"

"Nothing," I chuckled. "I'm just screwing with you guys."

Bex crossed her arms over her chest. "Don't you start lying to us this early on, Cameron."

_Ouch, full name. That reminds me of when Percy would be mad—well, he's never really gotten mad at me before. Irritated is more like it. He'd always use my full name when he was irritated with me, and the same goes for myself. It's been so long since he's been irritated with me. Actually that's not true. I can feel it; he's irritated with me right now, even though he doesn't want me to know. I guess that's one of the perks to being twins, demigod twins at that—we get to see inside each other's heads. Not really a perk at the moment though, seeing how upset he is. _

"_Cammie,_" Liz hissed, waving her hand in front of my face.

"Huh…what?"

"You just zoned out there," she said worriedly.

"Oh…don't worry, it happens all the time."

A piece of paper was hung in front of my face then, so close the letters on it started to swim. "Read this for me, Cam," Bex said sternly.

I continued to glare intently at the sheet. It was truly frustrating, knowing there were words on the paper, just never knowing what they meant. Knowing that you _should _know, and yet you haven't the faintest idea what any of it means.

"What does it say, Cammie?" Bex's voice wasn't Bex's anymore. It was all the teachers I'd ever had, telling me that I wasn't trying, I was just being stubborn and stupid, and I needed to start taking things seriously. And I was. I was taking it seriously; I just couldn't get right. And somewhere in-between it all, I stopped deluding myself, and stopped caring. Stopped trying. Because what was the point? They didn't believe in me. I didn't honestly believe in myself. Why would I, when at every turn, people kept telling me I couldn't, blaming me, like it was my fault.

"_What does it say,_" they kept mocking. From my first teacher, to my very last at Yancy, I could hear them yelling at me. _You're not even trying! This is such a waste of our time. Why can't you try like everyone else? Why can't you be like everyone else?_

"I don't _know,_" I hissed under my breath. It was so soft, I could barely hear myself. I don't know which question I was answering. What the words said, why I wasn't trying, or why I just wasn't like everyone else.

"What was that?"

"I don't know!" I yelled, a tear streaking down my cheek as I yelled it at the paper. That _stupid _paper. I reminded me of just how stupid I was. How _different _I was.

I liked being different, but not when it got you branded as a freak.

"…Cammie?"

Liz's soft, tender voice reached me then, returning my focus back onto the two girls who sat staring at me.

"What do you mean you don't know what it says?" Liz asked, placing a hand on my arm.

I turned my face away, getting up. This was just embarrassing. So completely and utterly embarrassing. I felt like was back at Yancy, Nancy Bobofit chackling and mocking me, right before I'd tackle her. "It's nothing," I glowered at the wall.

Bex got up, standing behind me. She placed a single hand on my shoulder. "…Do no one ever teach you?" she asked gently.

I barked out a bitter laugh. "Never teach me? They tried. That's the thing about Dyslexia. Sometimes you can train yourself to overcome it, and other times you can't."

"Dyslexia?" Liz stood, confused. "You have Dyslexia? But I've seen you reading, writing even."

"Greek. The only language that I _can _read. I don't know why, I don't know how, but it's the only one I understand."

Bex stepped over to my nightstand, picking up the copy of Greek Myths and Legends Annabeth had given me. "This. You understand this?"

I nodded, taking it from her hands. "'Narcissus was a handsome man'," I read. "'He drew the attention of many nymphs and mortals, seducing them. But Narcissus' true love was himself'." I closed the book, handing it back. "It's a sad story really. He makes a nymph named Echo fall in love with him, and when he breaks her heart, and she goes running off to the mountains, repeating everything she hears—that's a different story. Basically she angers Hera, and can only repeat what others say to her—he gets punished by the gods. They made him see his own reflection in the water, and he fell in love and tried to kiss it, only to drown. They felt bad for basically killing him that they turned him in to a flower. A narcissus flower, or daffodil as most people call them. That's why they turn and seem to be looking into the water. Kind of poetic. Kind of stupid."

"So you can read," Liz asked.

I nodded. "Not English, just Greek. I've tried learning from that Korean text book, but nothing."

"Has it always been this way?" Bex asked.

I shook my head. "No, just this summer I realized I could do it. I was watching TV when these words start standing out at me, although I can tell they aren't English."

"People can get past Dyslexia," Liz said. "I've read about it, you just have to train your brain."

"I've tried, teachers have tried. I've basically been declared hopeless."

Bex pulled me into a hug, Liz joining in. "You're not hopeless. I know you aren't."

I don't know when we all kind of fell to the floor. It must have been a gradual process, because I didn't even notice. I just seemed to come back to reality and realize we were all sitting on the ground hugging.

"So, Liz, how's that translator of yours coming along?" Bex asked a few minutes later.

"A work in progress," she said.

"How about adding Greek as the first language."

I smiled.

"On the bright side," Bex said, pulling away. "You won't have to study Greek at all."

I nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, I guess that is an advantage."

I never thought I'd be understood anywhere other than Camp Half-Blood, but I was coming to the realization that I didn't need friends who were half god or half goat. I had already made allies here at Gallagher.

And maybe one day they might come visit Nancy Bobofit with me.

**Okay, first Percy Rewrite one-shot, up and out there. It's not one of my better pieces, but I didn't know how to start these all out.**

**If you have any suggestions on what kind of one-shots you want done here, message me. I'd prefer if they ran along the lines of Cammie at Gallagher, but she does go home for the holidays, so anything is possible.**

**This will not be a top priority for me. I will update this when inspiration hits.**

**Hope you enjoyed, there are more to come.**


	2. Chapter 2

_Uncovering the Mystery of Cameron Morgan—Part Two_

* * *

><p>Dodge to the left.<p>

To the right.

Drop to the ground to avoid kick to torso.

Sweep opponents feet out using right leg.

They fell on their back with a muffled thud. "Man, am I glad these mats are so soft," Bex groaned. "You've been kicking my butt all morning."

Smiling down at her, I held out my hand. "Self-defense classes this summer. Trained everyday all summer, and my teacher was not the kind to let me, or anyone for that matter, slack off. I kind of have an unfair advantage on you."

She shook her head. "No, no I've been training since I was a little girl. I promised myself, one day, I was going to find James Bond and kick his butt, and take his place. I've been at this for years." Taking my hand, I pulled her back up on her feet again. She took her fighting position. "Okay, come at me again."

I stood up straight and laughed. "I'm tired, Bex. Let's take a little break."

I started to walk away when my demigod defenses kicked in. Another kick was coming straight for the back of my head. I ducked, spinning on my heals to face Bex, reaching up to grab her ankle, and flipped her back onto her back. She hit the mats a second time.

"Okay, sneak attacks, not going to work," she wheezed. "Do you have _any _weaknesses?"

"None that I'll ever let you near." I laughed at the look on her face. "That was unfair, just so you know," I told her.

"No, what's unfair is that I've spent my life training with my parents, and you take one summer worth of self-defense classes, and you've beaten me six times. How do you do it?"

I shrugged, smirking to myself. "Maybe I was born a fighter," I joked, hiding the truth behind my words."

She shook her head. "Not fair. Not fair at all. You're teaching me, just so you know. You're teaching me everything."

I crossed my arms over my chest. "Are you asking me to be your private tutor?"

"If you want to look at it as me _asking _you, then yes."

I perked up. "Then I'll gladly be your tutor, Bex."

Bex picked herself up off the ground, ignoring my offered hand. "Pride," she muttered to herself. "Keep some of your pride."

I just shook my head.

By now, I'd been at Gallagher for a month. Us girls all had our nice little routine. While Liz had just started setting in languages into her translator, me helping her with the Greek setting, both girls had helped me with my homework, reading it out loud for me, then helping me fill it all out, spell checking and all that. They had kept my dyslexia a secret, not even mentioning it. They acted like I didn't have it at all, pretending that they just wanted to work on homework together. It was such change in atmosphere, compared to all the other dorm rooms I'd shared over the years. Liz was such a kind, wonderful person, not a delinquent in the slightest, and Bex was a mastermind of trouble—the acceptable kind, by spy standards at least.

Nights were different, but not because of the girls. Every night, I would reach out to Percy in my dreams. It was the only time we ever talked to each other. Sure during the day we would send feelings and small thoughts to each other, but I was so busy trying to absorb everything, he didn't seem to want to bother me, and I didn't have time send him anything worth his time. And admittedly, I felt guilty. I know I was supposed to be taking this school seriously, and I was, but it was really making me a horrible twin. My loyalties always have, and always will remain with my brother, and I was sure he knew it. Still, I could feel Percy's hate and displeasure towards the school, even though he didn't say anything. At night, when we would hang out and talk, school was never brought up. It was the one subject that neither one of us was willing to touch.

Instead, we talked about mom, and camp, and how much we missed Annabeth and Grover. I spent hours worrying over Grover. Over a month and no word. I don't know what I expected, but I just couldn't help feeling worried about my little goat friend. He was on such a dangerous mission, I just wanted to pack up my things, find him, and drag him back home where he was safe. But this was his dream, and as much of a mama goat (that's what he calls me) as I am, I won't ruin this for him.

Once P&E was over, me and Bex ran for lunch. I could feel my stomach growling at me, telling me to get some nourishment soon, and not to go light on the cookies.

"Cookies, cookies, everybody likes cookies," I sang softly to myself as we ran. Bex laughed, pushing me. I pushed back, and sang louder. "Cookies, cookies, _everybody likes cookies!_"

"Dork," she muttered, giggling.

Liz was already waiting in the dining room for us, waving her hands for us to see her. All the eighth graders sat together, just like all the ninth graders, tenth, eleventh and twelfth did. Bex always sat next to me, Liz across from us. It was nice sitting with all the girls, almost like a little family meal.

I was chowing down on my hamburger and fries when I noticed Tina staring intently at me. I looked up. "What? Is there something on my face?"

She must not have thought I was going to notice her, because she blushed, looking down. "No, no you're fine," she told me, still not looking up.

"Well then what is it?" I asked. "It's fine, I won't get upset."

"No, no it's nothing, go back to your burger."

"Tina," I said in a warning voice. "You know I like you, but seriously, if you don't tell me right now why you were staring at me so strangely, I'm going to be your partner for P&E tomorrow, and you saw how well that worked for Bex."

Bex just slid me a sideways glance, smirking at Tina, nodding. "It wasn't a fun experience."

Everyone at the table giggled.

"Well, I was just wondering…" Tina said, timidly. This got my attention. Tina Walters doesn't hesitate to ask questions. I learned that in the last month. Tina was a gossiper, always trying to get something juicy to pass around. It wasn't anything bad, quiet entertaining at times. But she was anything but timid.

"Yeah, wondering what?" We had the entire table's attention at this point, along with some ninth graders from the next table.

"I've never heard you talk about your family, is all. Everyone else has mentioned theirs. I was just wondering who you've got."

I froze in my seat. It was true, I hadn't answered any questions about family since Rachel, the head mistress asked. Neither Bex nor Liz asked me, and it had slipped my mind that no one knew my cover story. At least not the part about my family.

I guess everyone else realized this too, because they all had the same look of realization on their faces.

"Uh," I hesitated, recalling my cover. "I don't really have anyone."

All their faces dropped. They all knew what it meant. "What happened?" Kim asked.

I swallowed hard, knowing I was going to have to lie to all my new friends' faces. "My dad…well he kind of walked out on us when we babies, or at least that's what I think happened. Mom…she never really talked about him. My brother, he was my twin—" everyone flinched at the word 'was'. "We never really asked all that much about him. We were too little to really understand it anyway."

"Where are your mom and brother now," Eva asked, knowing what I was going to say, but asking anyway.

"They died."

"How."

Surprisingly, the word came from Bex, who hung her head low, as if she couldn't even look at me. I stared at her, trying to get her to look at me. I wanted to see her eyes, see if she knew I was lying. I was so far away from home, and although I saw my brother every night, I felt so far away, and in a way, so alone. Here, I had friends, but I had no clue if they would stand by me as the monsters came for me. Bex and Liz…I didn't know if they would stand by me for my screwed up life—I'd only known them for a little over a month. But we were close, there was no denying that. We had something stronger than a normal, run of the mill friendship. I wanted Bex to look up and show me if she could see the lies. I wanted to know right then if she would stand by me.

She didn't look up though.

"There was a house fire," I said softly, still staring at her. "I wasn't in it."

"And they both died?" Mack asked sadly.

Bex stood up then, grabbing both hers and my plates. "Question time is over. Lizzy, come on."

She went to dispose of all our garbage, while Liz and I stood up awkwardly, grabbing our bags and leaving.

We ran to catch up with our friend. "Bex," Liz cried. "Wait!"

She turned one more corner, before we caught her. She wheeled around and pulled me into a crushing hug.

I was shocked at first, not only because I wasn't used to this kind of behavior, but because I was sure she was mad at me for not telling her.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered to me in a horse, sorrowful voice. "I should have noticed. I should have seen it."

"Bex," I sighed, wrapping my arms around her, almost like I was comforting her. "It's okay. I should have mentioned it."

"How? Just randomly say on a movie night, 'oh, hey, I don't have any family left, I'm all alone, please pass the popcorn?' No." She pulled back, gripping my shoulders. She still couldn't look me in the eyes.

"I should have known what that look meant."

I became puzzled. "What look?"

"The one you get, right before you go to bed and when you wake up. It's such a sad look, I didn't really want to think about it."

I looked to Liz, who confirmed I did indeed have a 'look'. "I've seen it," she said. "It's like you barely even realize anyone else is in the room with you. You get it sometimes when you're trying to read something, or we're watching TV."

Bex just kept shaking her head. "I should have known. I should have understood, realized—"

This was getting out of hand quick. "Bex," I interrupted, my voice wavering. "It's fine."

"But—"

"No, I mean it guys, it's fine. They've been gone a really long time, I've gotten used to the fact. Sure, I'm not over it, and I won't ever be. They're my family, I'll always love them, and I'll always miss them. I mean, we were all each other had. I was little when they died, but still, the connection me and Percy had was unbelievable. We were each-others best friends. We were diagnosed with dyslexia together, we faced the bullies together. We didn't have a father to help raise us, but mom always knew what to do. She was a really amazing woman. Made the most amazing blue chocolate chip cookies ever. You would love her, I know it."

"They sound amazing," Liz whispered.

I smiled at her. "They were. The most amazing people I ever knew. But they're gone now, and it's not that I'm leaving them behind, I'm just remembering them every chance I get. Thanking them for helping me get this far. I mean, I'm in a _freaking spy school! _They'd be so proud."

Hugging both of them, I said, "I don't mind you bringing them up. I almost wish you did, because they'll seem more alive somehow."

The bell rang, signaling that lunch was over. Girls started flooding the hallways again, surrounding us.

"So…" we said at once.

We all laughed.

"Seems we don't know everything about each other," Bex said, looping her arm through my own.

I hooked my free one through Liz's, smiling down at her, then slightly up at Bex. "It's only been a month. We've still got things to learn."

A month down, Percy. Only ten more to go.

I could feel a rumble of disapproval, and it made me smile.

* * *

><p><strong>Don't know if Percy's going to make it that long. Again, this isn't my best work, but I wanted to get the basics of the girls' friendship down. I wanted to show how the girls react to learning of Cammie's 'Past', which becomes very important in later stories. Percy isn't going to be featured very much in any of these, other then being mentioned, and maybe-I said maybe!-make a few appearances.<strong>

**the next rewrite should be up this weekend or next week. But then i'll be taking two weeks between chapters so that I can finish up my Clary the Demigod story, so you'll have to bear with me there.**

**Next one's going to be "What are you doing here?"**


	3. Chapter 3

**What are you doing here?**

* * *

><p>"Come on, Cammie!" Bex yelled from our dorm room doorway as I tied my shoe. "They're going to leave without us!"<p>

I rolled my eyes. "I hardly think they'll leave without us. Just let me grab some money for lunch."

Now it was Bex's turn to roll her eyes. "You don't _have _any money, remember?"

"OH…Yeah, that's right." I finished knotting my shoelaces. "Okay, I'm ready."

"Bout time."

Liz giggled at us. "Don't worry, I'll buy you lunch in town, Cam," she told me in her sweet southern twang.

"I wouldn't offer that, Lizzy," I laughed.

"Yeah, have you seen how much she eats," Bex joked, crossing her arms. "I've seen my father eat less than her. And that's saying something."

"Thankfully, I have a highly active metabolism," I grinned, rubbing my stomach as we walked out the door, into the crowded hallway.

All the girls gathered in the grand hall, waiting to be escorted into town. It had been a great couple of weeks here at Gallagher. Everything was running smoothly. Vanessa wasn't kidding; this place is perfect for a girl like me. We get a grade for blowing things up! Thankfully, I've had loads of practice blowing things up. Even though I usually had Percy there for a second pair of hands.

Today was my first visit into town. I hadn't really seen it, except on my way coming to the school. It looked nice enough. Smiling people watering their lawns with a garden hose, little children running out in the middle of the road, nearly getting run over. It was like something out of a Disney movie!

"Girls, girls!" Madame Dabney yelled, clapping her hands. "Calm down, ladies. Now, we all have to keep together. Eighth graders, please, try and keep up. I know this is your guys' first trip into town, but please exercise caution. This is where most of your hands on lessons will be taking place. Don't get lost! We have mine fields surrounding the school, and we'd love it if it was a bomb free day."

"Mind fields, huh?" I muttered to myself. "I'll have to keep that in mind."

Bex elbowed me in the ribs, smiling.

"You know you want to try it," I joked.

"Not in the daylight when the security cameras can clearly see our faces," she shot back.

"Oh they can clearly see us at night too."

"You two are insane!" Lizzy squealed.

"Thanks for noticing," I winked.

"Girls," Professor Buckingham said, walking past us. "Everyone is leaving. Please hurry up."

"Yes mam!" I saluted, running after everybody. Bex giggled beside me, while Lizzy shook her head like a frustrated mother.

Mom. I missed her. I sort of wanted to run all the way back to New York, and forget Gallagher. Pretend my little adventure never happened, and live a nice long life with her and Percy, going to normal school, doing normal stuff half of the year and then going to camp for the summer.

But I had gotten a taste of this world—this spy world. Normal school wasn't going to cut it anymore, just like having a normal, trouble free summer wasn't going to cut it either. I couldn't just go back to classes like math and English and injury free gym. I needed more in my life now. I couldn't live risk free. It was never a choice to begin with, but now I could choose how much risk there was going to be.

Fingers snapped in front of my face. "You worry me when you space out," Bex said. "It makes me think you're planning something devious."

"Devious is to kind of a word. More like Machiavellian."

"What?"

"Machiavellian," Liz said. "She's referring to the characteristic of Niccolò Machiavelli and his political philosophy. He was an Italian historian, politician, diplomat, philosopher, humanist, and writer based in Florence during the Renaissance."

I smiled at her. "Have I ever told you that you are the smartest person ever?"

She blushed, hiding her face. "It's basic knowledge."

"Now, I've never heard of the guy, so it's not really basic knowledge," Bex snorted.

"I wouldn't really use that as a reasoning for it not being basic knowledge, Bex," I teased. "I mean, I knew the word, and—"

Bex took me into a headlock. "Shut up! Everyone knows Lizzy is a walking Wikipedia."

Liz sputtered embarrassed, while I just laughed. "You are sweetie," I said. "And we love you for it."

Yep. This is how our relationship works.

* * *

><p><em>Really, <em>I thought to myself. _Did they really just leave without me?_

I groaned as I walked down the street. I had no clue where I was, or where I was going, and my friends had left the store we were in without me. I had been browsing the clearance section (Bex said she'd buy me anything in the store, but I'd always got my things on clearance, and old habits die hard), when I finally found a top I liked, and went to go find the girls, they were gone. I searched and searched, but they were simply gone. The lady up at the counter asked if I was going to buy that, and I had to go put the top back. And Liz still hasn't bought me lunch! I was starving! I growled to myself, echoing my stomach. I really shouldn't be this hungry. I had a large breakfast.

Suddenly a hand shot out from the ally way, pulling me in. I gasped, my demigod instincts kicking in, getting myself into a fighting position. I squatted down low, hitting my opponent in the torso as I rammed into them. They grunted (it was a low tone, and their height and girth suggested they were male) positioning their legs to stop my momentum. So I locked my arms around their waist and used my leg to knock theirs out beneath them. They fell, unceremoniously, covering their face from anymore blows.

"Cammie, Cammie, stop!" they yelled. "It's me. _Josh._"

I paused my fist from colliding into—apparently—my friend's face. "J-Josh?"

Uncovering his face, my attacker smiled up at me sheepishly. "Hi, Cam."

It took me a moment to fully come to the comprehension that Josh—my cute demigod friend—was here. Like actually here. Once everything came into focus again, I gave him a swift punch to the chest.

"OWWW! What was that for?" he asked, rubbing his chest sporting a hurtful expression. A cute hurtful expression.

_Bad Cammie! Stop._

"You attacked me!" I scolded him. "Why on earth would you do that?"

"I didn't attack you, I grabbed your shoulder. _You _were the one trying to kill me."

"I wasn't trying to kill you, I was trying to break your tibia, snap your ulna, fracture five of your ribs—two one the left, three on the right—break seven of your toes, and leave you very bruised," I told him, bopping him on the nose.

He had a cute, lost look on his face. _Stop calling him cute! He is your  
>friend! <em> I did acknowledge that never once did he actually throw a punch or kick as I was attacking him, but chose not to say anything. "I don't even know what half of those words mean," he said.

I smiled cunningly at him. "You'd be in pain, and lots of it. Walking? Not an option. Grabbing things? Forget it. Breathing normally? You'd be lucky if you got a full breath of air."

Josh just smiled at me, shaking his head. "Same old Cammie. Promising pain to those who scare her."

"You did not scare me!"

"Oh, really?"

"Really. And if you wish to avoid any of the painful injuries I just listed off, you might want to keep your yap shut."

"Got ya, Captain." He stood then, holding out a hand for me. I took it, and he swiftly pulled me up. I nearly knocked into his chest. _Nice chest…bad Cammie._ He waved a hand to the building to our left. "This is my family's pharmacy; do you want to come inside? We've got ice cream."

"Now, Josh," I said in a teasing voice. "I'll follow you anywhere; you don't have to bribe me with ice cream."

He laughed, dragging me inside. It was a nice little pharmacy. There was no one inside, I noticed, as he led me to the counter. He went to the other side, picking up an ice cream scoop. "What kind would you like?" he asked.

I peered over at the display case. "Uhhh, blueberry almond. That looks amazing."

He smirked at me. "You mean blue. I know about your obsession with blue foods."

"It's not exactly a secret, Sweet Cheeks."

He handed me a dish with two scoops of blueberry almond ice cream. "What are you doing here, anyway?" he asked, sitting down next to me. "Not that I'm not ecstatic."

"I go to _school _here, how about you," I asked, tasting the icy treat. It was amazing. "What are you doing here exactly?"

"I _live _here. In the house out in the back actually," he said, gesturing to the back of the store. "Cammie, this town is small, and I haven't seen you since this summer. What do you mean, you go to school here."

I was shocked. I mean, me and Josh are good friends. He treated me and Percy kindly when we first got to camp. He was one of the only ones, next to Roe, Grover, and Annabeth (kind of. She wasn't a huge fan of Percy at first). We spent the entire summer (minus the time I spent away from camp on a quest) together, training and hanging out, but in all that time, we had never mentioned school or home. Not surprising. I hated school, not to mention I was barely home, and Josh's only words on the subject was that he lived in a small town with a small school and had nothing much to do.

"I-I didn't know you lived here," I stuttered. "You never mentioned you lived in Roseville."

"Neither did you," he shrugged.

"Well I used to live in New York, but then Vanessa—you know, Annabeth's older sister—suggested that I go to a school here. Gallagher Girls Academy, have you heard of it?"

His smiled—such an adorable smile—dropped, and he fixed me with a stony gaze. "Gallagher."

"Yep."

"Gallagher Academy."

"That is what I said."

"Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Youth Woman. You go _there._"

"Third time is the charm!"

"You go to that school _exceptional _brats?" he gasped in horror.

I frowned. "Okay, maybe it isn't the charm. We're talking about two different places entirely."

"I sure hope so. The Gallagher I'm thinking of is a school filled with spoiled brats who walk these streets like they're some kind of gift to the world."

There was no difference between my Gallagher and his, that much was obvious. I mean, there's only one Gallagher in Roseville. The only difference was how we both saw it.

"Why on earth do you think that?" I asked.

He scoffed. "They're all spoiled brats that spend their parents' money."

I chewed on my lip. I had overheard some of the older girls mention something along these lines. They it was only a stereotype, but I didn't listen in long enough to know exactly what was going on. The crème brulee had come out! "I go to Gallagher, and the girls there are nothing but nice. Like all the time. It's like I've stepped into an alternate dimension where people actually think I'm not a total loss of hope."

His face contorted, like he didn't really want to believe me.

"I have friends there," I continued. "And you know how hard it is to get people to like me. At least mortals. It's like they have some kind of built in Hate-Cammie instinct. Anyway, my friends are amazing. They help me with my dyslexia, and understand me. And you of all people know how hard I am to understand."

He shook his head. "I just can't see it."

I stabbed my ice cream a bit. "You know, it's not a normal school. That rich brat stuff is really just a cover."

He eyed me. "A cover for what?"

"Spy school."

He laughed. "Now I know you're pulling my leg."

"No, that would have to be someone else; both my hands are up here. Maybe it's a monster."

He gave me a look. "There is no such thing as spy school."

"Obviously, there is, I go to one."

"Cam—"

"What, you believe in monsters and gods but you can't believe in that there is a spy school? Josh, you and me disprove everything impossible."

"Okay, okay, so maybe it's a spy school," he said. "But they're still brats."

"Oh, really?" I said, taking on a defensive tone. I liked Josh and all, but the girls at Gallagher were my friends too. "What have they ever done to you?"

"Well, nothing—"

"So why do you hate them?"

"Well…" he paused for a second. The a few more seconds. "I don't…I don't really have a reason. They just walk around here like they're better than us."

"So you don't really have a reason. You just go along with everybody else, and let them think for you." I shook my head. "You know, I've been to a lot of schools, and not everyone was bad, but most of them did the same thing. If one person labeled you as stupid, or uncool, or bratty, that was what you were. And it's not a feeling I want to have coming from one of my friends."

He looked at me with guilty eyes. "I guess you have a point." He took my hand, and I blushed…a bit. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you."

"You know me, tuff as an over baked cookie," I joked, squeezing his hand.

The door's bell dinged as someone walked in. "Well isn't this just disgusting," the person said.

I turned to give the person a dirty look. When I saw who it is, I growled like some kind of wild animal.

"Dillon," I hissed.

Dillon is also a half-blood. Son of Ares. Thus, why we hate each other. Me and Percy kicked his dad's butt, and his awful children haven't forgiven us. He's also a son of many other things, but I'll keep the name calling to a minimum. Sadly, he was a friend of Josh's. And apparently he lives here also.

"Cameron," he shot back, bearing his own teeth.

"What are you doing in here?" I hopped off my seat, making my way over to him. "I would have thought you'd be off torturing some poor puppy or something."

"That' was this morning. Then those stupid Gallagher girls filled the streets and I had to get away from those airheads."

I didn't mention that one of those girls alone could cause this entire town to blow up in the next thirty minutes. Fighting with Dillon about Gallagher was useless. Josh, I could reason with. But you can't reason with a rock. I was just going to have to let it go.

"What is she doing here?" Dillon asked Josh.

"She lives here," Josh sighed, rubbing his face.

"You never told me that!"

"I didn't know till just five minutes ago, and even if I knew months back, I still wouldn't have told you."

"Why not exactly?"

"To avoid situations like this."

"He's just afraid you'll say something stupid and I'll kill you on sight," I said, picking at my nails.

"As if you could."

"Ask your father. I killed him, didn't I?"

"Why you little—"

The door opened again, and a pink blob walked in. I knew this blob. I liked this blob!

"Dee-Dee!" I squealed in delight, running to her. "You live here too?"

She squeaked in fright as I tackled her with a hug. "Oh my gods, Cammie?"

Dillon pushed past us, bumping into me. "I'm out."

"And stay out you beast! Be gone with you! May you never darken a doorway ever again! Not that you could, you're much too small."

He glared at me as he left.

"Oh, Cammie, you live here?" Dee-Dee squealed. "This is just too amazing! Did you just move in?"

"Actually, I go to Gallagher Academy."

"Oh…" she seemed taken aback. I sighed. Here we go again. "That's great," she settled on, smiling at me. "So exciting! You'll be so close now!"

I smiled, relieved I wasn't going to have to have the same argument with Dee-Dee that I did with Josh. "Maybe I'll sneak out and we can hang out," I joked, winking.

"Don't get caught. I hear they have the best security in the state."

"Yeah." Best security in the Easter Coast.

I looked up at the clock at the wall, and saw that it was Four-Thirty. "Oh, gosh, I have to go, everyone will be heading back now," I said, picking up my ice cream bowl, attempting to shovel the rest in my mouth.

Josh grabbed my shoveling hand. "How about you just take it to go, and enjoy it," he smiled.

"But…the bowl…"I said, tabbing it's ceramic side. "And the spoon—"

"Let's make it a promise," he said. "A promise you'll come visit."

I blushed. _I hate you girly feelings. _"Deal." I hugged him, and Dee-Dee. "I'll see you guys soon."

Running out of the pharmacy, I ran into Bex and Liz. Literally. I almost spilt my ice cream on Lizzy's sweeter.

"Cammie!" Bex yelled. "Where have you been? We've been looking everywhere for you."

"Well, first I was in that store—you know, the one you guys _left _me in?" I gave them a pointed look. "And then I went to the pharmacy."

"First off we didn't leave you there," Bex stated. "We thought _you _had already left. So we left to go find you."

"Left? Why on earth would I just leave?"

"I don't know! But we couldn't find you! Anywhere!"

"I never left the store."

"Okay, okay," Liz said in a calming manner. "We believe you. But Cammie, what were you doing in the pharmacy?"

"Oh, I was getting ice cream," I said, showing them.

"But, Cammie, you have no money."

I rolled my eyes. "Obviously, I went in there, put my hand in my pocket to make it look like I had a gun, held up the store and demanded ice cream, or everyone was going to get it."

Liz looked appalled, while Bex just shrugged, taking a bite of it. "Humm, blueberry almond."

"It's good, right?"

"Very. I might just help you hold up that pharmacy next time we're in town."

"I don't know what I'm going to do with you guys," Liz shook her head walking away.

I didn't want to tell the girls that I got the ice cream because I knew the boy behind the counter. I had a cover to maintain. And a family to protect. Not that I didn't think I could trust the girls, but I had only known them for two months, and I had known Luke for three, and he tried to kill my brother and me. Vanessa had made it clear that the spy world was dangerous, and even more deceitful then the demigod world. I was going to be making friends, and even more enemies. Here, I was orphan Cammie, the girl with no family, therefor, no weaknesses.

It was going to get lonely at time without Percy, or mom. But I wasn't leaving my demigod life completely behind. I had Josh and Dee-Dee to keep me living both my lives.

I took a bite of my blue ice cream. _Yep, Percy. That's right, blue ice cream. Be jealous._

_I'm not jealous. I'm eating mom's blue cookies._

_Curse you._

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><p><strong>The End<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

**SAY THAT AGAIN, MADAM?**

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><p>Do you know how many different kinds of spoons there are? How about the different kinds of china ware? Do you want to get me started on the seventy billion kinds of tea there are?<p>

And the biggest question I have revolves around the relevancy of this class in my spy career.

Yes, here at Gallagher, the Academy for upcoming spies, we have to take a class in manners, taught by Madam Dabney. I learned how to drink with my pinky out, my back straight, and my legs crossed, like a real lady. You'd think they'd teach us to lie so well that people would believe we were well mannered.

The world was about to self-implode with how utterly wrong it was for me to partake in such a class.

Madam Dabney was a good teacher. She was cheerful, kind, and overall a well-mannered and respectable teacher. She was the Queen of Ladies. Which is what made her liking me so weird.

And I know she likes me too. She spends more time talking to me than any of the other girls. Like she believes I'm a worthy companion to have a civilized conversation with. I didn't have the heart to tell her I'm not.

We had real conversations. She treated me like an adult. Me, a lowly seventh grader, only just starting out. We talked about where she got all her fine china from, and all the places she's going to visit again, and all the places she's _not,_ for classified reasons. Reasons she shares with me. And this all makes me feel special, not to mention worthy. I'm proving to be a civilized citizen of this fine country, not just a menace.

But it didn't matter how much I liked Madam Dabney. I didn't like her class.

And I thought maybe that was the reason she had held me back that day, instead of letting me run off to lunch.

"Cammie, may I have a word?" she said from her desk, just as I was about to leave. That's all that she would call me. Not Cameron, or Miss. Morgan, my fake name. Just Cammie.

I stopped in the doorway, and turned around, waving my friends away. "Yes Madam?"

She waved me closer, not even looking up from the papers she was grading. "Come closer, Cammie, I can barely hear you from over there. Oh, and close and lock the door. We don't want anyone walking in and hearing us."

I froze, not completely understand what she was asking of me. "I'm sorry, but hear us talk about what, exactly?"

Still she didn't look up, just waved me over impatiently. "Dear, you still have lunch to get to, so I suggest you hurry up."

Slowly, I shut the door, and locked it. This reminded me to much of the Mrs. Dodds incident. Though this teacher adored me (I think) and I wasn't in any sort of trouble (again, I _think_), I was still with a teacher, alone, with no real backup. And that was close enough for me.

"Madam Dabney, what is it you need to talk to me about?" I asked, taking a step forward, my hand on my necklace, ready to pull it if necessary.

She did look up then, an angry, sour look on her face. I started to pull, startled by the sudden change in attitude, afraid she's turn into a leathery old bat herself, or, maybe something worse. Maybe a distant cousin or something.

"Cameron," she said, her voice low, a warning. "I will not tolerate you attempting to pull a weapon on me, god gifted or not."

Yep, definitely enough to worry.

The fact that she knew my necklace was a weapon, and that it, or maybe she even meant me, was a god gifted item, gave me enough reason to think she was a monster. I pulled on it, turning it into its long, metallic form. The shell and wood pendent formed the handle, the chain wrapping itself around it, then up the bronze blade. A thousand names of the thousand Greek soldiers who had fought with this sword littered its surface. Gold dust still lay in the crevices.

"Okay, what are you?" I demanded in a strong, hopefully, brave voice. "I suggest answering quickly."

She got up and started slinking towards me.

"Stop right there, I mean it!"

She continued, not even fazed.

I raised my sword, readying myself. "Don't you _dare._"

She stopped for a moment, only to scoff at me, and continue at a faster rate.

When she was finally arm's length away, I forgot any worries I might have about having to explain this later, instead just moving with instinct, slicing downward.

But my sword only hit the solid ground. It had passed right through her. She was human.

We both stood in shock. She didn't actually believe I was going to try and kill her.

"Cameron Anne _Jackson!_" she finally said, shocked. "Did you just try and kill me?"

"To be fair," I muttered, "you were scaring me."

"That is no reason to try and kill someone! That's rude!"

"I'm a fairly rude person, just so you know," I sassed. "I mean, do you even know who I—" I paused as a thought hit me. "You called me Cameron Anne Jackson. Why would you call me that?"

She sighed. "Because that is your name, Cammie."

I shook my head, slightly panicked. She couldn't know. If she knew, that mean other people knew, and that meant bad things were going to happen. It meant that the gig was up. I would be questioned about why I lied about who I was, and what my business here was. I could be considered an enemy spy, or something worse. I would be in trouble. Vanessa would be in trouble for bringing me here. Percy and mom might get in trouble. So much was at risk with her knowing.

"No, no my name is Cameron Morgan," I told her, my voice trembling slightly, making me cringe, because she probably heard that.

Madam Dabney tried to take my hand, but I pulled away.

"My name is Cameron Anne _Morgan,_" I repeated, stronger this time. "I don't know what you're trying to convince yourself of, but that is who I am."

"Cammie," she said in a calming voice—that did not, by the way, calm me. "I know you're scared, but I'm not—"

"Not going to what? Lie about me being someone I'm not? I'm Cameron Anne Morgan!"

"I won't tell anyone your secret!" she said in a hushed voice. "Cammie, that's not what I'm trying to do here. I swear, your secret is safe with me, I promise you that. On the River Styx, no one who does not already know your secret, will not ever get it out of me."

"Look, I think you're imagining things," I told her, trying to appear calm. "I _am _Cammie Morgan! It says so, even in my files—"

"Oh, your files were rubbish until I fix them," she scoffed. "Vanessa tried her best, but in the time she had been given to create an entire life for you, things got sloppy. She couldn't do it properly. She never was really great with that kind of stuff in the first place, anyway. Thank the gods she had me check them over, or you would probably be sitting in a CIA holding cell right now, being questioned. You think I don't know everything in those files? I'm the one who helped create them."

My sword was of no help, but still, I held onto it tight. This could all be a lie, a trick. She might appear to be on my side, but why wouldn't Vanessa mention her knowing? That didn't make sense. She would have said something about it.

"If you're on my side, why did I never hear about you knowing?" I asked.

She shrugged. "I don't know. Vanessa was supposed to mention it. I called her in the first day of school, to wrap up all the details. She said she'd handle it, but she hasn't called back. I'm half afraid she ran into some monster, or enemy spy. She had mentioned a mission, but I don't think she'd leave so soon after sending you here. After all the work she put in, she wouldn't let this crash and burn." Madam Dabney sighed, and looked toward the phone, as if expecting it to start ringing at any time. "I guess I should explain what's going on."

I nodded. "That would be ideal."

"Don't get sassy with me. That's rude. Anyway, I should start about…uh, eight to ten years ago. I'm not really positive when it happened, but anyway, years ago I was on a mission. It was normal, run-of-the-mill kind of stuff. I was checking out the forested area around a warehouse that had just been taken over by the CIA for inspection. I was on perimeter duty. While I was out there, I ventured a little too far out. I started hearing things, and seeing things. Something was moving out there, too fast for comfort. All of a sudden, there were children screaming. They couldn't have been much older than ten years old. I ran to go help them, not thinking about calling for backup. The screams just kept going, and I followed them until they just suddenly stopped. I was scared I got there too late."

Madam Dabney took a deep breath. "I did find them. They were in this sort of…clearing in the woods. Not even sure I should call it that. All the trees had been knocked down, as though something had hit them. The trees and ground were covered in blood and some kind of golden dust. In the middle of all this was a little girl and a boy. The boy held the girl, crying. When he saw me coming towards him, he froze, and clung tighter to the girl. I pulled out my gun, checking to see if whoever had hurt them was still there. They were both injured, though the girl was next to death. I kneeled down next to them, and checked over the girl's injuries. She had a broken leg and a deep gash in her stomach. I asked the boy, 'What are you two doing out here?'. 'Just passing through', he had said. As though I believed that. That area had been under lock down all morning. I took out my water canteen and started washing some of the blood away from her stomach. I found a sort of giant…stinger sticking out. I told her I was going to pull it out, and it was going to hurt. She just sort of nodded and readied herself for the pain. She didn't really scream as I pulled the stinger out. Just sort of grimaced and bite back sounds. She was strong, I'll give her that.

"As soon as the stinger was taken out, the boy started pouring this liquid stuff on it. I took the stuff from him, not wanting the wound to get infected by whatever it was, but when I went to wipe it way, I saw the injury start to heal itself. It was incredible. I'd been around for a long time, doing things only seen in movies, some things people can't even imagine. But I'd never seen something like this happen. It was like a miracle, but I'd figured out long before not to believe in such things. I looked at the stuff, but it looked like apple juice. Nothing very special. I asked them what it was, but they never told me. So I asked them what attacked them. 'A monster' the girl told me. The boy seemed very worried, said there was more coming.

"There was a buzzing sound, and a sort of animal came out of the woods. It looked like a giant wasp, but had a tail with a million stingers at the end, like a barbed whip. It swung around, knocking into trees, tipping them over. Immediately the girl reached into my back pocket, and took out the knife I had hidden there, chucking it at thing. It stuck right in the thing's eye, blinding it, making it fly all over. It fell to the ground, it's tail still swinging around. She sat up as straight as she could and took the stinger I had just taken from her stomach and threw that as well. It hit the thing right in the chest, and it exploded into a golden dust. It all happened so quickly, I didn't really know what to make of it.

"I wrapped the girl up, though that gash was only a little cut now. I asked them what that thing was, but they refused to tell me. I told them I was going to go get help, and as I left, I could have sworn the boy had hooves instead of feet. But when I returned, they were gone. I didn't really expect them to stick around. For a while, I entertained the idea that they had just been a figment of my imagination. I did ask the girl what her name was before I left though."

"Vanessa," I said.

Madam Dabney nodded. "Yes. I searched for her. It took me a year to find her. She had been missing all summer. So I paid her a little visit. She was terrified when I showed up at her door. I asked her again what had happened that day. She told me I wouldn't believe her." She laughed. "I told her that she could try lying to me, but it wouldn't work."

"What did she say?" I asked.

"The truth. That she was a demigod, a child of Athena, and her friend was a satyr sent to pick her up and bring her to a safe place. Somewhere monster like that thing couldn't get to her. But they ran into some trouble, and she ended up injured. Her keeper had poured ambrosia, drink of the gods, on the wound to heal it, and then continued on their journey. They got to the safe place and that's where she spent her summer."

I laughed softly. "I bet you didn't believe her."

"The logical side of my brain told me not to," Madam Dabney agreed. "But the spy in me that could tell when someone was lying told me she was telling the truth. It didn't really make sense, but I'd seen things that made even less sense. My eyes had seen what had happened. It was real. It would be stupid of me to look at the facts and dismiss them because they're difficult to understand. In a world where there is so much we don't know, how can we be so narrow-minded as to not at least entertain the idea?"

"So you just believed her?"

"I had decided to believe her till facts told me otherwise. Obviously, that never happened."

"Is that how Vanessa became a Gallagher Girl? You decided she would make a good spy after meeting her?"

"No, had looked through her records and saw she was an exceptional student, with lots of potential. She was exactly what the school looked for. So I put her file in the pile and let fate decide. She was my best student till the day she graduated."

This all seemed crazy, but then again, my entire life kind of was. "How could you see the monster so easily?" I asked. "The mist should have shielded you from being able to see it properly."

My teacher smiled. "Chiron said that I was born with the ability to see past most of the mist."

My jaw dropped. "You've met Chiron?"

"Of course. Vanessa had gone back to camp and told him about how I knew. He came to pay me a visit. Explained everything in vast detail. We're good friends now, actually. Still meet up every now and then. He had stopped by before going off to teach you and your brother's Latin class. He had told me all about these two trouble makers he was going to check up on."

"So you've know about what me and Percy are long before even we knew."

"Yes. Chiron had big hopes for you two, and it seems you've lived up to them. Despite the delinquent past, you both are very exceptional children. Brave, and strong, and very bright. Meeting you has been a wonder for me. One day, I'd very much like to meet that brother of yours." She tilt her head to the side. "That is, if you do trust me."

I paused to think about it for a moment before nodding. "For now, I think I do. You know too much not to have been in the loop at least a little. I'll still have to talk to Vanessa when she gets back, just to be sure."

"You'd be a fool not to."

We smiled at each other, and I was glad I didn't think she was a monster anymore.

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" I asked, smirking a little.

"You're missing an assignment. I thought I'd let you know, without the entire class being able to hear that I'm giving you an extra night to do it."

"Really?" I asked. "What assignment am I missing?"

"The utensil match up."

"Oh yeah, that's the one where you match what utensil is used for what." I bit my lip. "Whoops."

"'Whoops' is right. I am not in the habit of giving an extra day to complete assignments you choose to ignore, but I'll make an exception for you."

"That's very kind of you."

"I know. Now run along. Lunch is almost over by now. Go get something to eat quick."

I stood up from my seat, picking my backpack up. "Thank you, Madam Dabney."

"Anytime dear. Don't let it happen again."

I walked to the door, but turned back around to say, "I'm sorry for trying to cut you in half."

She smiled sweetly. "It's fine, Sweetie. I forgive you."

"Will you let me know when you hear from Vanessa?"

"Of course."

"Thank you. Have a nice day."

"You as well."

I guess you could say it was a great day. I realized I wasn't as alone at Gallagher as I thought. I had my backup here as well. Madam Dabney and I got along even more after that. Our conversations extended to all her adventures as well as my own. Vanessa returned, in a tizzy, having forgotten to mention to me that my teacher knew. Boy was she shocked to learn we had figured that out already.

I really liked having Madam Dabney as a teacher.

But I still hated her class.

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><p><strong>So I know this one-shot was kind of pointless, but Madam Dabney is a big part of Cammie's part in these stories. This was kind of something I needed to explain for future reference.<strong>

**Also I really wanted Cammie try and cut her teacher in half.**


	5. Chapter 5 REVISED

**I'm so sorry guys. It was brought to my attention my the most amazing person on this sight, Engineer4Ever, that there is something seriously wrong with this update if it is to follow Sea of Monsters and lead into Titan's curse. My brain malfunctioned and forgot the winter solstice is before Christmas. Making this one-shot kind of confusing, and sort of screws up my plans. So I'm revising this one-shot so that it'll hopefully make sense. There won't be much change at all, just tweaking a few things. It was actually brought to my attention quite a while ago, but I'm been both really busy and really lazy to fix it till now. But on the bright side, after this is fixed, I'm uploading the Titan's Curse Rewrite! So, yay!**

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><p><strong>Happy Holidays everyone! Here's our Hero's Christmas special!<strong>

**P.S. this takes place the school year following the Sea of Monsters**

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><p>"Are you sure you don't want to come spend break with me and my family?" Liz asked for the thousandth time.<p>

I smiled at her as I placed a few shirts in my suitcase. "Yes, Lizzy, I'm sure."

Bex hopped on my bed, sprawling herself out across my neatly organized things. "How about you come with me to London? It's fantastic there, I swear. You'll have a great time."

I laughed, pushing her hair out of my suitcase. "Guys, seriously. I love you, but I can't spend winter break with you. I'm sorry."

"But where will you even go?" Lizzy fussed. "Is there a foster family taking you in this year?"

"Or are you going with Mrs. Morgan to her in-laws' Christmas?" Bex asked.

"An old friend of my mom's actually. She sent me a letter this year, asking if I wanted to spend the holidays with her."

Bex sat up. "That's unusual. Why hasn't she had you over for Christmas before?"

"She's not exactly rolling in money. She can barely keep herself afloat, let alone get me a bus ticket to New York. She's been saving money, I guess."

Liz came over and started folding my socks. "That's sweet of her. Do you know her well?"

I shrugged. "Haven't seen her in years, but she used to babysit Percy and I. She was cool back then. Let us stay up late. I'm excited to see her again."

"But you'll call if you get bored, right?" Bex asked, unfolding a pair of my socks, just to annoy me. "Or if something goes wrong. One of us can come hang out or save you, or something."

I pushed her off the bed, chuckling. "Don't be a brat. I'm going to be fine. Anyway, who's to say I'm not sick of you two? With all the nagging, and overprotectiveness. It's enough to drive a girl nuts."

"Do you know the address," Liz asked. "I might send a Christmas card or something."

"I'll give you the address." I scribbled down our address. I was hesitant to give it out, but I'd rather hand it over than have them digging to find it.

Rachel knocked on the door, peaking inside. "Cammie, are you about ready?"

I nodded, letting Liz put in all my folded socks before closing it up. "Just finished packing. I'll be down in a minute. Thanks for driving me to the bus station."

Rachel smiled. "Not a problem, sweetheart. I'll be heading out right after I drop you off."

I hugged the girls goodbye one last time, wishing them a merry Christmas, before rushing down to my waiting car.

* * *

><p>The bus ride up to New York was uneventful, to my greatest pleasure. It was a Christmas miracle! What was even better was what I saw coming off the bus.<p>

"Percy!" I cried, running up to him.

He had a big bright smile on his face as he caught me. "Hey, little sis," he chirped, squeezing me mercilessly.

"_Uggg…Percy, too tight!"_

"Deal with it. I haven't seen you in months!"

"Ditto, buddy!"

He did let go a while later, but continued to hold my hands. He looked taller, even though it had only been a couple of months since I'd last seen him. He looked almost exactly the same, except for that little bit. His nose and cheeks were painted a lovely red because of the cold.

"Hey, where's mom?" I asked, shivering. Virginia hadn't gotten snow yet, but it looked like New York just got hit.

"She's at home. I told her you were coming home late tonight. She's going to cry seeing you early."

"What a horrible son you are. Making your mother cry."

He pulled something out of his back pocket. It was a blue stalking cap with a fuzzy puffball on top. "Here, mom got you a hat."

I laughed as he pulled it on my head. "I'll tell her thanks when we get home."

Pulling off the scarf around his neck, he wrapped it around mine. "I was just holding on to it for you. This is from me."

I winked at him. "It looked good on you."

"Mom was worried you'd freeze up here. She checked to see if you'd gotten any snow down there, and was afraid you'd go into temperature shock or something. I think she's got all the makings for a yeti in the closet."

He wrapped his arm around my shoulders, stirring me over to get my bags. "I wish she wouldn't worry so much. A little cold can't get me down."

"She's going to worry regardless, you know that. I just know she rather stress out about the cold rather than monsters and that sort of stuff."

I nodded in understanding. Anyone who says my mom isn't tuff can go stuff it, 'cause that lady is made of nails and steel, with fuzzy warm packaging. Not to mention, she's the greatest woman to ever live. And boy does she make a mean blue chocolate chip cookie.

I took a deep breath, taking in the smells of New York. Not always pretty, but it was home, and I was glad to be back, with Percy's arm around me. I smiled up at him. "It's good to be home."

"Hard semester?" he asked.

"No, I just missed you guys. It may be spy school, but that doesn't replace any of this." I snuggled in deeper, resting my head on his shoulder, which was suddenly several inches taller. "Gods, either Liz's shrinking serum worked, or you've grown."

He smirked down at me. "Well you're always saying that this Liz of yours is a genius."

I laughed as we reached the steps of the apartment building. "I'll have to let her know it worked!" Percy held the door open as I slid inside.

"Hey Eddie," he called out to the superintendent of the building.

"Hey Percy," Eddie called back, not looking up.

"Hey Eddie!" I chirped, smiling widely at the man.

"Hey Cam…" Suddenly he seemed to realize I didn't live there anymore. He looked up, smiling widely. "Well, if it isn't Cammie Jackson! Back from higher education."

"Not that high of education, but it's a step. How've you been Eddie?"

He shrugged. "Well enough. The place hasn't fallen apart yet."

"Surprising considering this one lives here," I teased, hooking a thumb in Percy's direction.

We said goodbye, and headed upstairs to see mom. I was racing up the stairs. Mom had sent letters, and I was always quick to reply, but I missed _her. _Her hugs, her smell, the way she stroked my hair, running her hand through it. Giving her up was hard, even with all her support.

"Cam, she's not going anywhere," Percy laughed, "you don't need to run!"

"What, can't keep up?" I taunted.

"Of course I can!"

"Then cut the chatter! Move those feet! You get her the rest of the year; I only get her for a few weeks."

Finally reaching the apartment, I hesitated to enter. I suddenly felt lost. Like I was in unfamiliar territory. I hadn't been home in months, and now I felt like a stranger outside my own house. I wasn't sure exactly what to do.

Percy reached for the handle. "How about walk in." He turned the nob and pushed me inside. I glared at him, though my gratitude showed through.

"Percy? You home already?"

Percy smiles at me. His hand on my back stirred me into the living room where mom is standing, decorating the tree. She's the image of beauty, even in her holiday sweats. Her hair is tumbling down her back, sporting the curls I inherited from her. Her eyes glow with happiness, making everything look insanely bright. She floats wherever she goes, a true queen in her kingdom. She's a sight for sore eyes, I'll tell you that.

She turns to smile at Percy, but pauses when she sees me standing there.

"Cammie?" she breathes, as though she can't quite believe it's me.

I give her a small smile, waving. "Hey, mom."

She immediately drops the ordainments in her hands and runs over to me. "Oh, Cammie, sweetheart!" she cries, pulling me into her arms. "Oh, sweetie, I missed you. I missed you so much!"

I squeezed back, pressing my face into the crook of her neck. "I missed you too, mommy."

We stood like that for a long time, her just stroking my hair. When she finally pulled back, she gave Percy a scolding look.

"You said she wasn't going to be home till tonight," she said.

Percy shrugged, not looking the least bit sorry. "Merry Christmas," was all he said.

"I haven't even gone out to rent the movies…and I don't have the stuff for crazy bake." Mom shook her head. "I was going to go out and do that today before you got here."

"That's okay," I told her. "Let's go now."

"How about we finish decorating the tree first?" she smiled, flattening my hair.

* * *

><p>We have a sort of tradition at the Jackson house when it comes to Christmas. We go out and rent some Christmas movies—you know, the good ones. Home Alone, the Polar Express, The Santa Clause. And while we're watching those, we crazy bake. Basically the concept is that mom looks up like twenty different cookie recipes, all completely different, and we bake a batch of each. We've made our original chocolate chip. We've made candy cane chunk. Peanut butter crunch and red velvet with chocolate frosting. We've made pink sugar cookies, and every color of the cool aid rainbow cookies. We're willing to try it all. In fact, most of them aren't even that good. Horrible in fact. But it's just so fun we don't even consider stopping.<p>

And baking is no easy task in our house. Percy makes sure of that. He's always licking the spoon, dipping his grubby fingers into the bowl. There always at least one flour fight a year, which ends in the two of us becoming as white as ghosts. It's a waste of flour, but mom never stops us.

It was almost surreal having mom tuck me into bed. Sure, I'm a little old to be getting tucked in at night, but I let myself indulge in the pleasure of being home again. She kisses the top of my head, whispering "I love you", before moving onto Percy.

"Goodnight, kiddos," she said, turning the light off. "See you tomorrow."

I sigh contently, snuggling into my comforters.

"Good to be home?" Percy asked.

"Best Christmas present I'm going to receive," I smiled, letting my eyes drift shut.

He snorted. "You underestimate my skill. Trust me, I got you the best gift ever."

"Whatever loser."

"Jerk."

"Love you, Percy."

"You too, Cam."

* * *

><p>The next day, mom woke up early to make blue pancakes. I was used to waking up early, even on breaks, so I got up and helped her. Percy came out half an hour later, a strange look on his face.<p>

"Hey, bro," I said, stirring up some more pancakes. "What's up?"

"I just got an Iris message from Grover," he said slowly. "He needs our help picking up a possible demi-god."

Both mom and me turn to him.

"You've got to be kidding me?"

Percy shook his head. "I wish I was."

"But it's almost Christmas!"

"Cammie," mom soothed, placing a hand on my shoulder. "You need to go help him. He's your friend."

"Well, yeah, but the timing…"

"We'll just celebrate early," mom suggested.

"It shouldn't take us too long, to do," Percy said. "He wants us there tomorrow. Should only take a day."

I gave him a look. "When have things ever gone according to plan for us?"

"Come on, you two," mom said. "We're going to hope for the best, but turn today into our Christmas, just in case. What do you say?"

My brother and I shared a look before shrugging.

"Better safe than sorry, I guess."

* * *

><p>Mom insisted we eat before opening presents. Percy and I quickly consumed our abnormally colored breakfasts, and launched ourselves in front of the tree.<p>

Mom laughed. "You two are nuts."

"Yeah, yeah," I waved off. "Can we open our presents now?"

"Knock yourselves out."

Percy and I lunged towards the presents at the same time, bashing our heads together, nearly 'knocking ourselves out'. We glared as we rubbed our heads, reaching for our presents one at a time.

Mom got me all kinds of James Bond and Buffy the Vampire Slayer merchandise, along with stamps and cool stationary to write home with. Percy had framed an old baby picture of ours, my favorite one. He had his arms wrapped around me in his chubby toddler arms, innocently smiling up at the camera. I looked completely confused as to what was going on, but look with mild curiosity. There was a broken baby cake in front of us that used to said "Happy 1st Birthday Percy and Cammie". In my fist I held a chunk of Percy's name, and the rest was on my face. Both our faces were stained with blue frosting, and it was all in our hair and up our noses. Mom was in the back, holding us up, smiling that sweet old smile of hers. I started crying, knowing how much thought he put into this. He could never give me a resent picture of the two of us, seeing as no one was supposed to know. But this picture I could set on my nightstand and look at every night before going to bed.

There were three more presents under the tree. Mom looked confused at to where they came from.

"Did you bring them home?" she asked me.

I shook my head.

"Percy?"

"No."

I reached over and took the card of the top. Opening it, I read the cute little Santa card inside.

"Dear Cammie,

I just want to say Merry Christmas to you and your family! There were a couple of girls over here who were very concerned your presents wouldn't reach you on time. So I offered to take them to you for them. They happily turned them over to me. I hope your Christmas is wonderful, and wish you and your family the best. Hopefully see you in the new year.

—Sincerely, Vanessa

"Well that's sweet of her, thinking of you on Christmas," Mom said.

"Yeah, now open them up," Percy pushed. "I want to see what's inside."

I took the pretty one wrapped in bubblegum pink ribbon and cute wrapping paper with elves dancing on it. Ripping that adorable paper to shreds, I carefully opened the little brown box inside.

"Oh, cool, bubble wrap," I teased, shooting Percy a wink.

"Dude, the excitement in killing me."

I nudged him with my toe. Reaching in again, I grasped something smooth and sleek. I pulled out a pair of black rimmed glasses.

"What an odd present," Mom said, as I handed them over to her to inspect.

"Maybe there's a card inside to explain," Percy suggested.

And indeed, there was a card at the very bottom, written in Liz's tiny neat handwriting.

_Hey Cammie!_

_Just as an explanation,_

_These are the new translator glasses I've been working on._

_They bring in words and project a translated _

_Greek version onto the lenses so that you can see._

_Obviously, only you'll be able to see the translation._

_But when you take them out into the sun, _

_they can work as sunglasses as well!_

_Merry Christmas!_

_-Liz_

"Dude!" I hissed, taking them back. I placed them on my face and took the book nearest to me, opening to the first page. It took a second, but then words started appearing in front of my eyes on the lenses. "Oh my gods! It works! Like actually works!"

"What works?" Percy asked.

I snap them on his face, and shove a book at him. He looks down at it, waiting for something to happen, when suddenly his head jerks back in surprise.

"No way!" he exclaimed. "That's amazing!"

I show them to my mom, explaining what they were. She became so excited, trying them on herself.

"Okay, I'd love to see that get topped," Percy said, handing me my next gift.

"Do not underestimate Bex," I warned him.

I opened this one to find a note with a black leather jacket underneath.

"Cool," I said, sliding it on. "I've always wanted a leather jacket."

"What's the note say?"

_Hello, Cam_

_So I got you, by far, the coolest jacket you'll ever get the pleasure of wearing._

_Congratulations, you are now the proud owner of your very own spy jacket._

_Enjoy figuring out all its perks._

_-Bex_

"I see trouble with this one," I muttered, handing the note around.

I slid my hand into the right pocket, feeling for something inside. It all seemed fairly normal to me, except for the small catch in the material. Figuring there had to be something weird with it, I pulled on the catch, tearing it open, revealing a small hidden pocket. Inside there was a paper thin metal disk. I took it out and pressed the tiny button on the back. It lit up to reveal itself as a GPS, and it knew my exact location at that very moment.

"Dude, that's awesome," Percy said.

I checked the left hand pocket and found another secret pocket, this time loaded with napotine patches, emergency duct tape, and super strong rope, probably used to tie somebody up. Percy and I continued running our fingers over the jacket for an hour, finding little catches where hidden goods lay. We found lock picking tools in the bottom lining, where if my hands were tied up behind my back, I'd find them to be most useful. In the collar, there was the world's tiniest gasmask. Behind the sown on 'label', there was currency for over fifty different countries. I'm sure there was more to the jacket—without a doubt, actually, but we decided to give up when that was all our search came up with in an hour.

"One last present," Mom said, handing me the silver wrapped one.

I read the label with my new glasses on. "This one is addressed to all of us, from Madam Dabney," I said.

"Then I get to open it," Percy said, taking it from me. He wasted no time ridding the package of its wrapping, and tossing the top to the side. He looked down inside and his mouth dropped.

"What is it," mom asked, taking it from him. Her eyes widened.

"What?" I asked. "What is it?"

Mom reached down and grabbed a handful of what was inside. Coins clanged together as she brought up a hand full of golden drachmas.

"Cam, is your teacher rich or something?" Percy asked me, taking a coin.

I crawled over and looked in the box myself, knowing I had to of seen wrong. But my eyes did not change what I saw. Hundreds and hundreds of beautiful golden drachmas, shimmering in the early morning light.

"Where could she have gotten all of these?" Percy asked.

Mom took out the letter addressed to her, and read it to herself. Mom slowly started to tear up, and covered her face with her hand, sobbing silently.

"Mom, what did she say?" I asked her.

"She said she had no more use for these coins anymore, and thought she better give them to somebody who did," mom cried. "She's given us enough drachmas that Percy and I can call you every day for the rest of the year, and the year after that. She's even talked to the Headmistress and has gotten you a two hour time period where we can talk to each other without having to worry about someone walking in on us."

"How'd she pull that off with Mrs. Morgan?" I wondered. "Rachel doesn't even know…"

"She explained it as to help you with your dyslexia. A sort of extra study hall where she would read you your homework." Mom chuckled softly. "Which she still fully expects you to have your homework completely done every day, even if this 'study hall' isn't actually going to be used for school work. Especially now with your new glasses."

I fingered the glasses that still sat on my nose, and smiled down at everything I had gotten this year. Hugging the picture Percy gave me, I let my mom wrap her arms around me and Percy.

"Best Christmas, ever," I muttered, looking down at the drachmas.

"Your teacher is the bomb," Percy whispered, clutching me closer to him.

* * *

><p><strong>Thus endith, the Jackson family Christmas Special. I hope you all enjoyed it. I left the jacket thing open, so if you want to suggest a spy item that could be useful, I'm sure it'll fit somewhere. Cool little new gadgets for upcoming adventures, if you know what I mean ;) I know you guys wish I'd update this more often, but I've been hard at work trying to plan the next book out so I'm not floundering like in the last two rewrites. By the way, this one is set in the second year at Gallagher, just because I wanted to give Cammie presents from her friends that would be super helpful for books that haven't been rewritten yet. In fact, I might just move on to the second year. Don't know yet. Tell me what you guys thing.<strong>

**Well, anyway, hope you all have happy and safe holidays! Thanks for reading**


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